


.06 What Follows

by LaPilar



Series: Marvel Imagines/One-Shots [5]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/M, I'm Sorry, Little bit of Fluff, Nightmares, One Shot, Post-CACW, Reader Insert, Sleeping Together, Stubborn Tony, Tony's an ass, impossible love, mostly angst, the kiss was a bad idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-06 22:57:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14657958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaPilar/pseuds/LaPilar
Summary: You and Tony have been sleeping together for awhile now to cure your twin cases of insomnia. A nightmare reminds him what he has to lose and spurs him to action, but you don't take it well.





	1. Chapter 1

The squirming was what woke me up. Normally when I successfully got him to sleep he was out like a brick, hardly any movement or noises or even snoring. But not tonight.  
Tony and I had been sleeping in the same bed for a few months now, ever since Pepper had dumped him, Steve had left him for dead in Siberia, and my boyfriend had dumped me. All that, in the span of a week. I'd had so much to keep up with in the aftermath as Tony's assistant that I hadn't had time to process my own emotions, and the insomnia had been getting to me when I noticed it was getting to my boss as well. One late night I'd tugged him out of the lab and into his penthouse, but when I'd gone to leave, he'd shyly asked me to stay, volunteering to take the couch. That obviously didn't work, and thanks to how light I tend to sleep, when he'd gotten up at four in the morning and tried to leave, I'd been able to stop him. In my exhaustion, I'd tugged him back to his own bed and fallen down next to him, both of us too catatonic to protest.  
When we woke up the next morning, it was the most sleep either of us had gotten in a long time. So, without verbal discussion, we'd kept doing it.   
And it was working. I was getting a solid four to five hours of sleep a night, Tony a bit less, but it was still more than either of us were used to. We often woke wrapped around each other, but laughed it off and got to work. It was a bit embarrassing, almost childlike, but neither of us had the heart to stop.  
And like I said, it worked- most of the time anyway. A few times Tony had woken me up like this, with bone-chilling movements and words that I couldn't repeat. I typically woke him up and left for a few hours to give him time to recuperate, then it was back to business as usual.  
This time, though, when I shook him and whispered, "Tony, get up," it was different.   
He shot up, wide-eyed as he frantically searched the room, for what I had no idea. This was normally when I'd leave, but his arm had shot out and his hand had wrapped around my wrist with a steel grip. It almost hurt, but with the wild look in his eyes and the panting that quickly turned to sobbing, I didn't have the heart to shake him off.  
"Hey, you're safe, it's okay," I tried, reaching out a hesitant hand to rest on his shoulder.   
It was like a switch had been flipped in him. He folded like a crumbling wall, burying his face in the crook between my neck and shoulder as the sobs took him over. His whole body shook, and I could feel tears wetting my skin, but he was clearly, desperately trying to get it under control. He tried to take deep breaths, but they just came out stuttering and short.  
"Breathe, I'm here," I said in my most reassuring voice, running the thumb of my right hand over his shoulder. I wasn't sure how much contact he'd be okay with, and I didn't want to push the limits.  
"God, I'm so fucking sorry," he managed a few moments later, his voice trying for joking but still tight with tears and tension.  
"Don't be," I murmured, glad to see him slowly lift away from me as his breathing slowed. In seconds, he'd gone from full-blown sobs to barely more than hiccups. There were still tear tracks down his cheeks, and his eyes were bloodshot, but he was better at getting himself calmed down than I gave him credit for.  
It took him a few seconds to look up and meet my gaze, and when he did I hoped he didn't see the pity there. "You're incredible," he said, catching me completely off guard.  
My eyes went wide. "Tony, I, uh-"  
His hand went to the side of my face, and cupped my cheek. I leaned into his warmth without even trying to, not even trying to finish whatever it was I'd been trying to say.  
"No, Y/N. You're incredible," he repeated, whispering it this time. I watched as he moved in closer to me, but I wouldn't have had to be looking to feel it. The bed shifted; his voice drew closer to me, his breathing too. I could practically smell him, and I shut my eyes as if in a trance when he was a few inches from me.   
When he kissed me, it was like he'd put me under a spell. My whole body locked up; I couldn't have moved away from him if I'd wanted to. My lips responded without my consent, my tongue of its own accord. I couldn't deny the smattering of heat that passed between us, and a shiver ran down my spine when he pulled away from me.  
When my eyes opened, so did my mind. My eyes went wide once again as I realized what I'd done, and my mouth fell open. I was furious with myself more than anything, but Tony wasn't helping, sitting there with a helpless look on his face.  
"Oh my god," I finally managed.  
"Look, it's-" he tried, but the floodgates had been opened.  
"Oh my god, you kissed me," I said, moving to a kneeling position on the bed as I backed up, putting more space between us.  
He groaned in frustration and let himself fall back onto the bed. "Come back to bed. We can talk in the morning; I shouldn't have done that."  
"Tony," I said simply, and even I wasn't sure if it was a reprimand or a plea. I shook my head as I stepped off the bed, my eyes filling with tears. "I can't be that. I can't do that."  
He only twisted to meet my gaze, sighing when he saw my expression. "Come back. Please."  
I swallowed thickly and shook my head again, turning tail and sprinting out the door. I sprinted all the way to the elevators, and tried to catch my panicked breath as I rode 15 stories down to my own suite.   
I wasn't quite sure why I was running. Tony hadn't even followed me


	2. Chapter 2

To my complete and utter lack of surprise, my muscles wouldn't relax in my own bed. And even if they had, my mind was racing far too fast to find any solace in sleep.   
So instead of lying there uselessly, I got up and wandered through my darkened apartment. I wasn't spending much time here anymore, and it didn't feel like home. The bare contemporary walls, the cold gray flooring I never would've picked out, the total lack of personal decorations or sentiments left me on edge. The only food left in the fridge was half an old stick of butter, so I turned to the tv to distract me.   
Old sitcom reruns were the only decent thing on, so I spent the remainder of the night watching those and trying not to think about what'd happened with Tony.  
The effort was a spectacular failure. 'He's your boss,' I reminded myself bitterly. Not to mention the whole superhero thing, or the whole losing the love of his life thing, or the whole playboy thing. It was like God had taken a laundry list of people I shouldn't be kissing, and made Tony based off of it. Now on top of losing my boyfriend, I was probably going to lose my job, and my ability to sleep at all.  
My mind raced all night, planning, lamenting, remembering. I even packed a small suitcase, sure that Tony would be by anytime to let me know I had to go. Or maybe he wouldn't even come. Maybe FRIDAY would greet me without a good morning, but with the message that I'd lost everything.  
The sun rose quickly, to my dismay. Still Tony didn't show up. I wasn't about to go upstairs of my own accord, so I changed channels to the news and waited.  
There was a knock at my door around eight o'clock, and I swallowed the lump in my throat before muting the tv and opening the door.   
Tony was there, and he looked awful. Dark circles under his eyes, a smear of what looked like grease on his left cheek, and his hair was a mess.  
I frowned at the sight, taking a step towards him and realizing as I did so that he had a couple of bruises on his lower arms and there was dirt under his fingernails. He must've been in the lab all night.  
He'd realized I was scrutinizing him, and had remained silent until my eyes traveled back up to meet his gaze. He shrugged and gave me that nonchalant smirk of his. "Couldn't sleep." Without asking, he sidestepped me and walked into my living room. "Could you?" he asked, turning to look at me as I closed the door behind us.  
"Not really," I admitted, rubbing my left arm self-consciously. Tony didn't seem affected; besides the exhaustion he seemed his usual self-assured self.  
"Didn't think you would." He turned to look around my apartment, and his eyes fell on the suitcase against the counter. "Taking a trip? I don't remember giving you the week off."  
My eyebrows rose in surprise. "I'm not fired?"  
He turned back to look at me, his face a mask of confusion. "What? No. You didn't show up for work, so I thought I'd come see what was up." In the time it took for me to process, he got the wrong idea. "You're not quitting on me, are you?" His invasive gaze was almost too much for me.  
I shook my head hastily. "No, of course not. I just thought what with last night and all, you wouldn't want me around."  
He chuckled, not that the situation was funny at all. "Last night? My fault. I wasn't in a good place. It was wrong of me to take advantage of you like that."  
"Oh." I looked down at the ground, my face flushing red as I admitted to myself that I'd been totally on board with kissing him. The way he was talking about it now made me a bit disappointed, and I scolded myself for the thought. I was lucky I hadn't lost my job.  
My silence seemed to let him know exactly what was up, and he let out a frustrated sigh before walking over to stand right in front of me. "Look, you're a great assistant; you keep me sane. I've never.." he trailed off, clearly fighting with himself before he continued, "The whole relationship thing doesn't tend to work out for me. But I don't want to lose you."  
I smiled at him, not totally sure what he was saying but glad he was saying it. "You're not going to lose me, no matter what. As long as you want me around, I'll be here."  
My words seemed to pull a bit of tension from his body. "Good. Because I like being around you, and I don't want to ruin anything. Can we just, take things slowly? Play it by ear? Not label things until we have to?"  
I took my time to think before nodding. "Yeah, that's fine. You're a good kisser, but I don't know if I want to date you yet," I teased, prompting a small smile from him.  
"So I'm a good kisser?"   
I scoffed and turned tail, heading to my bedroom to get dressed. "Let's not pretend you didn't already know that."  
"Where are you going?"  
I rolled my eyes but turned back, raising one eyebrow at him from the doorway. "To get dressed for the day. If that's alright with you, Mr. Stark?"  
"Oh. As you were, then." He gave me a little salute, and I had to hold back a chuckle.   
When he didn't move to leave, I raised both eyebrows, tossing my head towards the door. "I'll see you upstairs. We're not quite to the seeing each other naked stage, boss."  
His mouth gaped open as he searched for something to say. After a few seconds of failing to, he closed his lips and gave me a little smile instead. I watched him turn and leave, the beginnings of a smile playing across my own lips.   
Maybe last night hadn't been such a disaster after all.


End file.
